Benlen wrote: Maybe I heard wrong but isn't it five years, serve 10 months in jail, the rest is served under house arrest.
According to the article, the only one saying that is the defense team. The judge never said that.

Oscar Pistorius was sentenced to five years in a maximum-security prison after being convicted of culpable homicide but will be freed this week after serving just 10 months.

South African women’s groups have launched a last-minute effort to stop Oscar Pistorius, the double-amputee sprinter, from being freed this week after serving only 10 months in prison for killing his girlfriend.

The powerful African National Congress Women’s League (ANCWL) called it an “insult to women nationwide” and urged the government to intervene in a letter endorsed by 200 other organisations.

Jacqui Mofokeng, spokeswoman for the group, said the death of Reeva Steenkamp, who was killed by bullets fired by Pistorius through a door, was still an “open wound” and that freeing him now would be like “pouring salt” on it.

“How does he sleep?” she asked.

“How do those on the parole board sleep at night? The pain of mourning a young person who died the way she died — it’s still an open wound.”

She went on to assert that parole was “not a right but a privilege”, adding: “It should not be granted.”

Pistorius was sentenced to five years in a maximum-security prison after being convicted of culpable homicide — the South African equivalent of manslaughter — in a trial last October.

Good behaviour has won him eligibility for early release pending an appeal by the prosecution in November that could result in him being convicted of murder.

Pistorius shot dead Steenkamp, a model and legal assistant who he had been dating for three months, through a locked bathroom door at his luxury home in Pretoria on Valentine’s Day in 2013, claiming to have believed she was a burglar.

The family of the dead woman have objected to his parole in letters to the authorities and Steenkamp’s mother, June, has bitterly condemned his release.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to let him back in society so quickly,” she said.

“He shot my daughter through that door ... One of the bullets blew her brains out. It is disgusting what he did to her — 10 months is just not enough.”

The six-time Paralympic gold medallist will be placed under virtual house arrest pending the appeal. He will be fitted with an electronic tag but it is not clear how, as the device is designed for the ankle and Pistorius had his legs amputated as a child.

By law the tag cannot go around his wrist as this would make it too easy to remove.

The 28-year old is expected to live in a cottage in the grounds of his uncle Arnold’s three-storey mansion. It will be a far cry from the hospital wing cell that he inhabited in jail. That was a room measuring about 6ft by 10ft with a bed, basin and lavatory, all behind a solid steel door.

Pistorius had been the first double amputee to compete against able-bodied athletes at the Olympics in London 2012 and he will be able to train again — the house has a gym and a swimming pool. But he cannot compete until his sentence expires in 2019.

South Africa’s Department of Correctional Services has refused to reveal the conditions of his release but lawyers expect strict terms to be agreed.

Pistorius can be banned from drinking alcohol, consuming drugs and communicating with certain people and may have to take a job or agree to do community service.

Rohan Kruger, a member of the Pistorius legal team, said in May that the athlete wants to work with children.

Another legal representative has told a court that Pistorius would like to work in the future at a school in Mozambique owned by his uncle.

The state wants the athlete’s conviction to be changed to murder and this will be the subject of an appeal to be heard by the Supreme Court in November.

Gerrie Nel, the state prosecutor, will argue that when Judge Thokozile Masipa convicted him of culpable homicide she had misinterpreted the law.

Pistorius’s time in jail has been closely managed by officials who were anxious to avoid accusations of giving their most famous prisoner special treatment.

He spends 23 hours of each day in an isolation cell and has been pictured in the recreation ground playing football with Radovan Krejcir, an alleged former mafia boss.

Mafikeng hoped Pistorius would end up serving a much longer term in prison.

“If they [the prosecution] have prepared well, he will get 10 to 15 years,” she predicted.

Oscar Pistorius, the double-amputee Olympic runner who shot his girlfriend to death on Valentine's Day 2013, can leave prison and move to house arrest next week, South Africa's Department of Corrections said Thursday.

A parole board at the prison where Pistorius has served nearly a year of his five-year sentence for manslaughter made the decision. It came after an initial ruling to release the athlete in August was cancelled at the last minute after intervention by the justice minister.

This time, the board "approved the placement of offender Oscar Pistorius under correctional supervision as from 20 October 2015," the corrections department said in a statement following the meeting of the parole board earlier Thursday.

Pistorius was acquitted of murder last year for the shooting death of Reeva Steenkamp, but prosecutors have appealed that trial verdict and will seek a murder conviction again at South Africa's Supreme Court on Nov. 3.

The appeal will come just two weeks after Pistorius is freed next Tuesday. If Pistorius is convicted of murder by a panel of five judges at the appeal, he faces going back to prison for 15 years, the minimum sentence for murder in South Africa, which no longer has the death penalty.

The spokeswoman for Pistorius' family, Anneliese Burgess, said in a text message that they had been informed of the decision to release Pistorius but would not be commenting further.

Steenkamp's parents are trying to "move on with their lives," their lawyer told the AP.

But, "they still believe that 10 months or 12 months (in jail) is not enough for taking a life," Koen said.

Pistorius was sentenced to five years after being convicted of culpable homicide, a charge comparable to manslaughter, for shooting Steenkamp, a model and reality TV star. Under South African law, an offender sentenced to five years or less in jail can be released after serving one-sixth — in Pistorius' case 10 months.

He has maintained he thought Steenkamp was an intruder in his Pretoria home and killed her by mistake. Prosecutors said he shot her intentionally during an argument after she had fled to a bathroom stall.

Pistorius will now be moved to correctional supervision, a form of house arrest, where he will have to live under certain conditions for the next four years. His sentence ends on Oct. 20, 2019.

Pistorius has been informed of those conditions, the corrections department said, although it did not detail them all. It did say that Pistorius would have to continue receiving psychotherapy while under house arrest and would not be allowed to handle any firearms.

Correctional services department spokesman Manelisi Wolela did not rule out ultimately allowing Pistorius to return to training. He also said Pistorius would not be required to wear an electronic tagging device.

Pistorius, known as "Blade Runner" for his carbon-fiber running blades, gained worldwide fame when he ran against able-bodied athletes at the 2012 London Olympics, the first amputee runner to compete at the games.

In June, the same parole board had cleared Pistorius to be released from Kgosi Mampuru II Prison in Pretoria on Aug. 21 only for that decision to be suspended by the minister of justice, who ordered a review.

The 28-year-old Pistorius is expected to serve his house arrest at his uncle's mansion in an upmarket suburb of Pretoria.

He gets 6 years, which is far below the usual 15 year sentence for murder in SA.

South African Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius has been sentenced to six years in prison for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in 2013.
He was initially given a five-year term for manslaughter, but was found guilty of murder on appeal last December.
He was taken immediately to jail. Both the prosecution and defence can appeal, but his lawyers say they will not.
Pistorius, 29, shot Reeva Steenkamp four times through a locked toilet door in February 2013.
He admitted shooting her, but said he had mistaken Ms Steenkamp for an intruder and acted out of fear.
Judge Thokozile Masipa said mitigating circumstances, such as rehabilitation and remorse, outweighed aggravating factors, such as his failure to fire a warning shot, for deviating from the prescribed 15-year sentence.

Many have expressed shock at Pistorius's sentence, which is much less than the prescribed minimum for murder. South Africans have taken to social media to express their unhappiness, with some describing the prison term as an insult.
Outside court, legal experts said the sentence was too little. "The judge was sympathetic and empathetic to Pistorius. It was clear in the tone of her entire judgement," one said.
But Judge Masipa said she had carefully considered the circumstances around Reeva Steenkamp's death and her sentence needed to be fair to both Pistorius and the family of the deceased.
South Africa has one of the highest murder rates in the world, and some say a short sentence will send the wrong message to would-be-offenders.
Dressed in a dark suit, Pistorius sat and listened to the hour-long session mostly with his head down.
He hugged his sister after the verdict, and was taken to Pretoria's Khosi Mampuru prison.
Ms Steenkamp's parents, Barry and June, sat quietly on the other side of the packed courtroom.

Pistorius has already served one year in jail over his previous conviction. He is legally obliged to serve half of his new term before being eligible for parole.
His legal team said he would serve the sentence prescribed and would only act to appeal if prosecutors indicated they wanted to appeal.
Prosecutors have not ruled it out and still have 14 days to decide if they will do so, correspondents say.
Barry Steenkamp told the BBC he was pleased that the trial was over, even though life would never be the same again.
Ms Steenkamp's parents had previously expressed disappointment with the initial sentence, an opinion shared by many South Africans. Women's rights groups considered it too lenient.

But Judge Masipa said her opinion was that "a long term in prison will not serve justice".
"Public opinion may be loud and persistent but it can play no role in the decision of this court."
Ms Masipa also said there was "no indication" that the victim was in an abusive relationship or this was a case of "gender violence".
Some rights groups have also argued that Pistorius, a wealthy white man and international celebrity, has received preferential treatment compared with others who lack his status or wealth.
The Women's League of the governing African National Congress (ANCWL) condemned the sentence as too lenient. "It is an insult to women in this country," ANCWL spokeswoman Jacqueline Mofokeng told Reuters news agency.
The six-time Paralympic gold medallist made history by becoming the first amputee sprinter to compete at the Olympics, in 2012 in London, running on prosthetic "blades".
He had his legs amputated below the knee as a baby.

Ultimark wrote: In this country, that couldn't happen. I like their system.
Our country has the highest incarceration rate, and the longest sentences, in the developed world. Under-sentencing isn't exactly a problem here.